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Social Resources and the Mental Health of Aging Nazi Holocaust Survivors and Immigrants

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International Handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes

Part of the book series: The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping ((SSSO))

Abstract

A review of the literature dealing with the effects of the Nazi Holocaust documents a wide range of physical and psychic impairments suffered by survivors (Chodoff, 1966; ). There is a basic agreement among most of the writers that survivors have indeed suffered lasting physical, mental, psychological, and social impairments. As a result, many survivors are characterized as being severely handicapped in a variety of life situations (Chodoff, 1966; Eitinger, 1961; Krystal, 1968). Recent reports within the clinical psychiatric tradition continue to provide evidence of the scarring effects of the Holocaust on survivors (). The literature also suggests that following World War II, the survivors’ recovery was made more difficult because the families and communities, through which they might have found comfort and help, no longer existed (Davidson, 1979; Levav & Abramson, 1984).

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Harel, Z., Kahana, B., Kahana, E. (1993). Social Resources and the Mental Health of Aging Nazi Holocaust Survivors and Immigrants. In: Wilson, J.P., Raphael, B. (eds) International Handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2820-3_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2820-3_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-6219-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-2820-3

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